This is a common sense problem that most Chinese people understand, but if analyzed through history and even unrelated mathematics, it may give you more interesting and profound inspiration.

What would happen if Russia suddenly disappeared in this world? We only know that this is not a good thing for China and the world.

This is a common sense problem that most Chinese people understand, but if analyzed through history and even unrelated mathematics, it may give you more interesting and profound inspiration.

Anyone who has learned basic mathematical knowledge knows that triangles are a stable shape, so they are widely used in engineering and architecture.

For example: The Egyptian pyramid is a triangular shape, the Eiffel Tower is also a triangular shape, the crane boom used in engineering is a triangle, and the steel structure in the building also has many triangles.

Why can triangles be stable? Because when the length of the three sides of the triangle is determined, the triangle is uniquely determined. However, when the length of the four sides of the quadrilateral is determined, the quadrilateral is not uniquely determined.

triangles also have a significant feature: that is, the sum of the lengths of the two shortest sides must be greater than the longest third edge, and it can never be less than or equal to the third edge.

Among the seven miracles of ancient times, only the pyramid has stood with its stable structure to this day. What is magical is that throughout history, not only the history of China, but also the history of the world, it is not difficult for us to find that the confrontation between three, five, and seven such odd-numbered powers last longer than the confrontation between two, four, and six even-numbered powers.

This is because: wars are more likely to break out between major powers with equal numbers and groups of powers. When odd powers form hostile groups, both sides are afraid of the power in the middle, so they are unwilling to start the war easily.

This principle is also applied in voting: why the arbitration team always has 3 people, 5 people, 7 people, because when the number of people supporting and opposing a proposal is equal, the vote in the middle is crucial.

China's history vividly proves this law.

at the beginning of the classic Chinese classic "Romance of the Three Kingdoms": "Since ancient times, the world has been divided for a long time and the relationship will be divided for a long time." Shang destroyed Xia, Zhou destroyed Shang, and in 770 BC, King Ping of Zhou moved eastward to Luoyi, the strength of the Zhou Dynasty declined, and Chinese history entered the Spring and Autumn Period.

In the nearly 300 years of the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Huan of Qi, King Zhuang of Chu, Duke Wen of Jin, Duke Mu of Qin, and Duke Xiang of Song rose one after another, replacing the emperor of Zhou as the head of the princes, and was the "Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period".

Three hundred years, the Five Hegemons were successively the princes,

In 403 BC, the Zhou emperor enthroned the Jin doctors Weis, Zhao Ji and Han Qian as princes. Then Zhao, Wei and Han "" were divided into Jin ". In addition, Qin, Qi, Chu, which had originally conquered the country in the Spring and Autumn Period and the rise of Yan Kingdom, were the "Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period".

The pattern of the "Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period" was able to last for nearly two hundred years because a subtle confrontation between the seven major powers in the early stages formed a subtle confrontation of "one staring at the other".

In the past 100 years from the 4th century BC to the 3rd century BC, Wei State , Qi State, and Zhao State successively rose to become first-class powers, and as a result, they were soon jointly suppressed by other countries.

Around 400 BC, Wei Wenhou appointed Li Kui to reform , becoming the first powerful country among the seven heroes of . For a time, Wei defeated Qin and Zhao, and was in the limelight.

However, the Wei State, which was self-reliant, had too much appetite. While attacking Zhao State for years, while fighting with Qi State for hegemony, he was eventually defeated in the battle between Guiling and Maling, and thus declined. "Pang Juan died under this tree" became a joke that later generations enjoyed relish after Sima Qian's hand.

The State of Qi, which replaced Wei as the overlord, did not have long been glorious. In 285 BC, the general of Yan State, Le Yi , led the troops of the five countries to attack Qi and conquered 70 cities in a row, almost uprooted Qi. From then on, Qi's rivers were declining and no longer as prosperous as before.

King Wuling of Zhao Hufu and Camera

Around 300 BC, King Wuling of Zhao implemented the "Hufu and Camera" to defeat the Huns, annex Zhongshan, and defeated Qin, making Zhao become a major country in the Central Plains. Unexpectedly, in the Battle of Qin and Zhao Changping in 260 BC, all the Zhao troops were wiped out, and Zhao has never recovered since then.

In the early and mid-term periods of Warring States , the three powerful countries rose one after another, blocking Qin's path toward eastward. However, as the three powerful countries all lost their qualifications for the finals, the remaining South Korean and Yan had no sense of existence, and the balance of the world was broken, forming a situation where the two strong men of Qin and Chu confronted each other.

In 223 BC, after three years of bloody war and huge price, Qin State finally destroyed Chu State, and unification was a foregone conclusion. At this point, the confrontation between odd major powers has been maintained for more than 500 years.

More than 400 years after Qin destroyed the six kingdoms, the Three Kingdoms were in power.

The prototype of the three kingdoms has been going on for more than 50 years since the Battle of Chibi. Since the sum of strength of Shu Han and Eastern Wu is greater than that of Wei, the balance between the three is difficult to break in the short term, which maintains a long-term relatively stable situation.

After 260 AD, the national strength of Wei State increased greatly, and the total number of registered population (4.43 million) exceeded the sum of Shu Han's (940,000) and the registered population (about 2.5 million). Therefore, Wei State launched a war of unceremoniousness.

Three Kingdoms are in power

In 263 AD, Wei destroyed Shu Han, in 265 AD, Sima usurped Wei and established Jin, and in 280 AD, Jin destroyed Wu and completed unification.

This time, the standoff between odd and major powers lasted for 43 years, and the standoff between even and major powers lasted for 17 years.

More than a hundred years after the unification of the Three Kingdoms, there was another confrontation between , the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

The beginning of the Southern and Northern Dynasties was not the confrontation between the north and the south, but the fragmented Hu regimes in the Southern Dynasties against the north. Therefore, in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty and the early Song Dynasty, the Southern Dynasties frequently attacked northwards and tried to unify China.

It’s a pity Emperor Wu of Song Liu Yutian is not a good year, and he used to control the guest of honor three years. Otherwise, with his great talent and strategy, it would be no empty talk to complete unification within ten years.

In 450 AD, the initiative to unify the world was transferred to the hands of Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Tuoba Tao, who had completed the northern integration. At this time, the real confrontation between the two heroes had just begun.

There is basically no peace under the two strongholds. With the continuous internal strife of the Southern Dynasties, the Northern Wei frequently attacked southward and moved the front line southward.

Northern Wei cavalry terracotta

In 498 AD, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who moved the capital to Luoyang, launched a large-scale attack on the south, but died suddenly when the troops approached the Yangtze River. The Northern Wei lost the closest opportunity to unification.

After Emperor Xiaowen's death, due to the weakening of the control of the northern border due to the weakening of the ruling core's ability to control the northern border, a large-scale civil strife broke out in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and finally split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei in 534 AD.

At this time, the world trend once again returned to the three-legged pattern. No one between the East and West Wei and Nanliang could swallow each other, and the three sides had confronted each other for more than 40 years.

Most of the rulers of the Three Kingdoms were mediocre and incompetent. This pattern was originally a stagnant pool, but in an atmosphere of being scattered and lying flat, Northern Zhou produced a young man who "does not talk about martial ethics": Emperor Wu of Zhou Yuwen Yong .

6th century Chinese Buddhist bloomed everywhere, and a large amount of land and population were occupied by temples. Yuwen Yong was determined to enrich the country and strengthen the army, and decisively took action from the temple to ask for money: temples, demolish them! Monk, return to secular life! Temple property, confiscated!

The monk was unwilling to give up and threatened Yuwen Yong and said: Your Majesty, you will demolish the temple and you will go to hell in the future! (Your Majesty is now relying on the power of the king to destroy the Three Jewels. It is a person who is evil in the Avici Hell, no matter the noble and low, how can your Majesty be scared?)

Yuwen Yong made the other party say nothing in just one sentence: If the country can prosper, I would rather go to hell. (But let the people be happy, I will never give up on the sufferings of hell.)

Emperor Wu of Zhou Yuwen Yong

This is a saying that shows his great talent.

The Northern Zhou Dynasty made its national strength strong through the destruction of Buddhism and a series of reforms. In 577, the Northern Qi Dynasty unified the north. The wheel of history once again returned to the confrontation between the two strong men in the north and the south, but at this time, the Northern Dynasty had completely overwhelmed the Southern Dynasty in national strength.

In 581 AD, the powerful minister Yang Jian usurped the Northern Zhou regime and quickly put down three great princes: Yuchi Jiong, Sima Yingnan and Wang Qian's rebellion. The rest of the matter was left to go with the flow.

In 589 AD, the Sui Dynasty destroyed Chen and completed unification. This time, the standoff between odd and major powers lasted for 43 years, and the standoff between even and major powers lasted for 12 years.

2. After hundreds of years of going around, history is always in the cycle of reincarnation

The opposition of even-numbered power camps cannot last. This is not only true in China, but also in Europe, where civilization has developed faster after the Renaissance.

In the early 18th century AD, major European powers included Britain, France, Spain, Holy Roman Empire , and Sweden, but France under Louis XIV was the well-deserved continental overlord at that time.

Louis XIV

How much influence is France? The courts of major European countries in the 18th century spoke French. Diplomacy sent to foreign countries may not speak the language of their country, but must speak French.

As for the British? It was just a country bumpkin and nouveau riche living on remote islands. The contempt that France could see with naked eyes made Britain very upset.

1700 The old Spanish king died, Louis XIV's grandson became the king of Spain , and France and Spain essentially merged, and the five major powers became four major powers.

However, many Spanish locals do not like this French product. In order to prevent France from annexing Spain, in 1701, Britain joined forces with the Holy Roman Empire, Netherlands and other countries to oppose France, and the " Spanish Succession War " broke out.

Since it is a war of inheriting the throne in Spain, the war will of course be fought on Spanish land. Therefore, the result of the war is that Spain was beaten to pieces and completely withdrew from the ranks of European powers.

However, what the warring parties did not expect was that while the Western countries were fighting hard, Russia under the leadership of Peter the Great quickly became stronger and suddenly launched the "Great Northern War" to beat Sweden.

Peter the Great: "I want to open a window facing the West"

The result of the war is whether it is the five major powers or five major powers, but Russia replaced the original position of Spain. Originally, the European continent could have peace for a period of time, but the originally unknown third-rate country, Prussia , suddenly rose rapidly under the genius operation of Frederick II , and the five major countries became six major countries.

As a result, in 1756, France, Russia, Austria, , Sweden as one side, and Britain and Prussia as the other side, the " Seven Years War " broke out again. Prussia relied on Frederick II's super command ability and luck several times from the brink of destruction.

"Seven Years' War" officially established Prussia's position as a first-class power, while Sweden gradually faded out of the stage of competing for Europe, with the five top leaders in Britain, France, Austria, Prussia and Russia standing together. The pattern of the new top five has been maintained for more than 40 years. The four major powers of France, Prussia, Russia and Austria sometimes cooperate and sometimes hostile to each other, but due to the existence of the British, this shit-making stick, no large-scale war broke out in the middle.

1799, France Napoleon came to power and defeated Austria, the European power power at that time, and made the European power structure change from five major powers to four major powers. In order to maintain its transcendent status, Britain joined forces with Prussia, Russia and Austria to siege France, which led to the Napoleonic War that lasted for nearly 20 years.

Speaking of Napoleon, he was indeed a wizard. In the early 19th century, when the traditional linear tactic of "queuing and shooting" was still popular, this guy pioneered a new tactic of using artillery to open the gap, then the cavalry quickly advanced and consolidate the gap, and then the brigade of infantry kept up.

War in the Napoleon era

This tactic was carried forward by Lin Biao's Dongye in China more than 100 years later, forming the "four fasts and one slow" tactic. Such tactical ideas that are almost equivalent to dimensional reduction strikes, and looking around at the time, almost no general in Europe could block these three tricks.

Moreover, the European generals before Napoleon all advocated a defeat war, and Napoleon was the first to see the importance of annihilation of the enemy's live force. He always concentrated his superior forces to fight an annihilation war. After a few battles, the main force of the enemy's country was destroyed and he could only announce his surrender.

Therefore, Napoleon almost single-handedly pressed the European powers other than Britain to the ground for more than ten years.

After the end of the Napoleonic War, the European continent returned to the balance of powers of Britain, France, Russia and the Olympics, and maintained peace for 50 years in general until the reunification of Germany in 1870.

With the establishment of Italian Unification HTML, German Unification, and Austro-Hungarian Empire, starting from the 1880s, two major military groups were formed with Britain, France and Russia, the main vested interests in the global colonial era, such as Germany, Italy and Austria, and other emerging imperialist countries that were eager to re-dividate the world as the other.

At that time, Germany, with strong military strength, was confident that it could fight one or two, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia were equal, and Italy was dispensable. The two sides were evenly matched. In such a situation, war seemed inevitable.

000s Europe became a powder barrel in the early 20th century

1914 World War I broke out. Ottoman Turkey, who had long been hooking up with Germany, joined the German and Austrian camps and fought against Britain, France, Russia and Italy. Subsequently, the powerful United States brought in to reap profits, resulting in the ultimate failure of the Allies.

After the end of World War II , the world moved towards a pattern of confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union and the two strong forces coexisted. This time, no new world war broke out, but the " Cold War " that lasted for more than 40 years occurred.

At the end of 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed . After the Cold War, the United States suddenly had no opponents in the world. Even the other four permanent members of the United Nations had no strength to compete with it.

Britain was originally the American horseman, Anglo-Saxon The founder of the rogue values ​​of "Die Daoist Is Not Dead" followed by the United States and made all the money in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Around 2000, Russia still had many oligarchs who acted as blood-sucking tools for Europe and the United States and the United Kingdom who were unclear and even fled to the United Kingdom to be a condo, which was very evident.

Although France is in a disagreement with the United States, the country has been declining after World War II . Although it has always dreamed of becoming the leader of Europe again, it has the will but lacks the ability to rely on Africa's colonial heritage to make a living.

A strong man like Charles de Gaulle is probably going to produce one in a few hundred years. 1

After all, it would be nice to openly withdraw from like General de Gaulle, NATO , take back the US military base, and fight against the United States. France can produce one in a few hundred years.

After the end of the Cold War, Russia was once deceived by the West through "shock therapy" and "we will take you to play with it" and allowed Europe and the United States to oppress and exploit it. It was not until NATO inserted his hands into the last buffer zone in the 1999 Kosovo War. However, it was too late.

From the five continental powers in the 18th century to the five permanent members of the United Nations in the 20th century, history has begun a new cycle.

Look at it, China is the only one who can threaten the hegemony of the United States: China has vast land, a population of more than one billion, internal unity, and strong manufacturing capabilities. It would be terrible if it develops.

Throughout the 1990s, the United States tried its best to suppress, block, provoke, and disgusting China, and was doing things almost every year.

At the same time, the US government has been instigating Japan, Vietnam, , Philippines and other countries to create trouble around China, erode China's maritime border, and try to compress China's geographical survival space and disrupt China's development rhythm.

Chinese coast guard ship patrols the waters of the Diaoyu Islands

The logic of the hegemony of the United States is: I'd better force you to do it. If you do it, I'll call the maids to go together. They come to the Yang, I come to the Yin, as long as you fight a war, your decades of development results are completely done, and you will completely lose the qualification to compete with me from then on.

From the end of the Cold War to the "9.11" incident in 2001, China endured it for ten years.

Thankfully, from the so-called "war on terror" in 2001 to the involvement of the Iraq War in 2003, I have been running around for almost ten years and have not had much energy to take care of China.

When the then-US President Obama decided to gradually withdraw his troops from Iraq and announced that he would promote the "Asia-Pacific rebalancing", he realized that China has long been different from what it used to be.

In 2001, China's total GDP was US$1.34 trillion, ranking 6th in the world, about 12.6% of the United States, and its defense budget was US$17.42 billion, only 5.5% of the United States;

China's total GDP in 2012 was US$8.53 trillion, ranking 2nd in the world, exceeding 50% of the United States' GDP. China's defense budget is US$106.182 billion, which is 16% of the United States.

As shown in the figure

In 2001, the Chinese Navy's most prowess was the two "Modern" class missile destroyers purchased from Russia. There were few other warships with more than 4,000 tons, which was almost negligible to the US Navy.

In 2012, the Chinese Navy's new warships began to be launched in large quantities. This year, the Navy launched a total of 15 ships with displacement of more than 1,000 tons, including the first ship of the 052D "Kunming", which is the world's first, and the world's second tonnage. The first aircraft carrier, "Liaoning", was officially delivered to the navy.

As for the Air Force, China's third-generation aircraft has reached 585, while the total number of third-generation aircraft of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force has only 286 third-generation aircraft, and it is said that China's fourth-generation aircraft is close to finalization.

Americans were nervous: they couldn't figure out how the Chinese people developed suddenly overnight while they were not paying attention.

Of course, what makes the United States even more nervous is that while the role of Britain and France in international affairs is becoming increasingly marginalized, the relationship between China and Russia is becoming increasingly close.

In 2011, China and Russia established a "comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation". On June 5, 2019, the heads of state of China and Russia decided to upgrade the bilateral relations to "China and Russia Comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation in the new era."

Chinese and Russian soldiers participating in the joint military exercises

As China's influence continues to expand, regional countries that had been causing trouble and disputes around China under the instruction of the United States have been dying, except for a few deadly hard-core players, which means that the "ulcer strategy" designed by the United States for China since the Cold War is on the verge of bankruptcy.

But this move does not work for China does not mean it does not work for all countries. Since Putin became the Russian president in 2000, the United States has begun to actively create "ulcers" around Russia:

I will first deal with you on issues involving the bottom line of national security, deploy the missiles to your doorstep, and see if you can tolerate it?

Can you still tolerate it? Well, I'll find a little brother to beat you, and see if you can tolerate it?

If you can still tolerate it, then okay, I will find a little brother to kill someone and set fire on your territory. Let’s see if you can tolerate it?

OK, you finally couldn't bear it anymore, so you beat my little brother. I immediately label you as an "invader", confiscate your assets, impose comprehensive sanctions on you, and support my group of little brothers to beat you up.

Russian soldier

Anyway, it’s just my little brother who dies. Just use your flesh and blood as bait, and wait until you fall down, I want as much as I want to have such a little brother.

, a vicious strategy, in addition to interfering with and isolating Russia, has a more far-reaching intention, namely, provoking European-Russian relations and winning over European pawns who think they are anti-Russia pawns.

Sure enough, under the operation of the United States, the entire Europe was divided. Not only did Russia have serious confrontation with almost all NATO countries, but even countries within the EU that support tough on Russia and moderate on Russia have formed serious confrontation.

Now it seems that although the United States' strategy of suppressing China is not successful, the strategy of suppressing Russia has achieved considerable success. From 2008 to 2022, from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia to today's Ukraine , these countries around Russia have successively ignited wars.

With the world undergoing major changes unseen in a century, and 2012 is another ten years ago, the United States knows that it can play fewer and fewer cards. At present, the only way out for the United States is to defeat the weaker one among its opponents and concentrate its efforts against the stronger one.

Americans occupying Capitol Hill

If there is no Russia in the world, China will face a very troublesome situation:

There is no doubt that the set of the United States deals with Russia does not even need to change the formula, but it will definitely put the ingredients in full, turning them into double or even triple.

Look at the "THAAD" at your doorstep, look at the various "exercises" of Xiang Zhuang's sword dance, and then look at the jumping clown on the other side of the strait...

Five Constant becomes the Four Constant, and the rest of the United Kingdom and France have no choice, and they will inevitably obey the United States. As for countries that can take over Russia, whether it is Japan, India or Australia, their relationship with China is different from Russia.

Four and three to one. As long as others are not fools, they can see who the balance of victory or defeat is tilted towards. Then there will be far more people who choose to put down the wrong side and add insult to injury than those who draw their swords and help in time.

Unlike the United States, they may not have direct interests with China, but China's wealth, China's resources, China's market, China's infrastructure... everything can make ambitious people salivate.

The Last Empire

As China's power continues to strengthen, we will play an increasingly important role in defending world peace, but it will take some time.

Once the balance of power of the three-legged tripod is broken, it will surely usher in an early showdown, which is not a good thing for China and the world.